We’re very excited to present the first ever Those Darn Cats book club meeting! And in fact, we do believe we’re the first Disney podcast to publish a book club episode, and we expect to see others jump on the bandwagon soon.

Our first book club session is a discussion of Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom by Cory Doctorow, which you can download in many formats here, plus audio book here. This book is distributed under a Creative Commons license, and all the versions linked to from this page are free.

In the interest of shameless self-promotion, here are a few highlights from recent episodes of the Those Darn Cats Podcast, which I co-host and co-produce with my BFF Lisa:

How to Not Suck at Disneyland Paris: Tips, tricks, and random commentary from my son and me after several days at our happiest place in France. (Well, actually I think we had an even better time at a tiny café in Bayeaux, but what the heck.)

Now, don’t be fooled by the fact that my 13-year-old son sometimes joins us on the podcast….it is often not family friendly, and I don’t advise listening to it with kids around. Especially that one with the Scurvy Monkeys.

Like this:

Listeners of the Those Darn Cats podcast know that I have a tiny little bit of an opinion about the difference between Epcot pavillions and their corresponding real-world locations. So, can you spot six differences between these pictures of me in Epcot London and the real London? And can you tell which one is which?

(Heya Danielle, since you took one of these pictures, no fair cheating!)

Like this:

The great thing about solo travel is that one can try new things with abandon. Usually, I’ve got my kid’s needs to consider, and I often hesitate to try something new when my 12-year-old son is along for the ride. Plus of course, there are some things that one simply can’t do with a 12-year-old in tow, unless one has an outrageously precocious child, the right connections to fake ID manufacturers, and a willingness to completely forgo parental responsibilities.

This was the first time I’d spent more than 12 hours at Walt Disney World without my kid, so I enjoyed a measure of freedom that’s rare for my vacation time. I’m also fortunate to have plenty of solo business travel under my belt, so I’m accustomed to independence…just not when that independence is strictly about having a good time hanging out with buddies old and new! So, this month’s trip to MouseFest 2008 gave me a chance to try a few new things at Walt Disney World. Many of them I’ll do again…and some, well, I’m glad I had the chance to try them, because now I know they’re just not my thing.

I will start by saying that I hope to be able to make it to another MouseFest someday, and I’d gladly travel solo to Disney again! But, well, maybe not real soon. As great a trip as this was, family travel remains a much higher priority for me, at least for so long as I’m spending time on the road for business, and for so long as my kid’s living at home (which, shockingly, might only be another 6 years). Given that vacation days and dollars are sometimes scarce commodities, I’ll still be spending most of mine with the family.

And I also gotta say, isn’t it kinda cheat-y of me to call MouseFest a solo trip? Yeah, it was a solo trip with 952 of my closest friends! I’m not sure I would have enjoyed 5 days at Disney World truly solo, without 30 friends to dry my eyes after Finding Nemo: The Musical, without pushing a recalcitrant Jon onto the Haunted Mansion, without Steve showing up in drag at 9AM on a Sunday morning (hey, that was indeed quite new, even for me!). I do think I would have been lonely had I truly been there alone for 5 days.

But all that being said, and all aspersions of cheatyness set aside, what else was new for me this trip? Well, this was the first time I’d left Housekeeping oversized tips and shameless pleas for towel animals, which I’ll surely do again. Yes, I have an embarrassing fondness for towel animals, and I did bring home a whole menagerie…but it wasn’t just the need for new trinkets. It was also the pleasure of knowing that I’d put a couple extra dollars in the pocket of a Cast Member who is surely underpaid, and the fun of knowing I’d find something new and amusing when I returned to my room each night. Maybe Stitch would be curled up with a book (The Contortionist’s Handbook,
for those of you playing along at home, which of course is available from my Amazon Store). Or maybe he’d be watching TV…. or maybe a strange swan/reindeer hybrid (sweindeer?) would be atop my television, or some strange creature looking like she’s just emerged from the day spa. But either way, it was fun to feel just a little bit pampered, even (or especially?) at my low-rent Value Resort. Of course, since I enjoyed this special attention so much, I did in fact practice what I preach, and sent an email to Guest Communications after my stay to let them know what an important part this Cast Member played in creating the Magic, and how much I appreciate their great work.

Inside Pixie Hollow

I’d never been to Pixie Hollow before, and would recommend it though I don’t feel the need to do it again. The Fairies meet-and-greet is very well done, not only because the Fairies themselves are well-played but also because of the theme-ing. As you enter the Fairies’ domain, you’re sprinkled with pixie dust, represented by occasional electronic sparkles along the walls. As you move down the hallway towards the Hollow, the trees and mushrooms around you grow larger, symbolizing the pixie dust’s having shrunken you down to the Fairies size…and apparently, making it possible for you to understand the Fairies language. It would have been nice had a Cast Member explained this as we were waiting, as these details would have been lost on me were I not an overly-researching Disney dweeb (and had a friendly Tomorrowland Cast Member not talked me into visiting the Fairies by waxing enthusiastically about just this sort of thing). And yes, once you get into the Hollow the Fairies are every bit as playful and friendly as one would expect from Disney characters. Tink was in fact rather sassy, not the sexpot Tink who shows up so disturbingly in many Disney pins.

Nancy, Bob, Ray, and myself. Photo credit: Trace Jennings

I am not generally a piano bar fan, so I approached Yee Haw Bob’s show with some hesitation, but I enjoyed it immensely and would definitely go again….if I were with friend, or bringing my kid. Bob Jackson is a tremendous, and tireless performer, providing audience participation par excellence. My BFF Lisa and our friend Trace had secured the front table, so I was able to sneak in at showtime with friends Angel and Julio, and we all had a blast. Of course being at the front table meant that we were called upon for more audience participation than some, and I’m sure Lisa’s hand-made “Yee Haw” shirt didn’t hurt matters either! Bob Jackson’s a good enough comedian to get you to play along with the corniest jokes, and laugh until your sides hurt. And yes, some of us enjoy dragging unsuspecting MouseFesters into a conga line from time to time. It’s all very family-friendly, and I hope to take my kid there before he’s too cool to enjoy it. Or if we miss that window, maybe I’ll take him later on, when his kids can enjoy it too.

Alas, I can’t honestly say I want to go to Jellyrolls again, the other much-vaunted Disney World piano bar experience. It wasn’t for lack of good company…I arrived with my friend Danielle (after a fabulous time at the Studios Central Fantasmic Dessert Party), sat for a while with Steve Barrett of Hidden Mickeys fame, and then hung out with Bryan Ripper and others at the All About the Mouse Singalong Meet. So what was my problem? It might have been the general aesthetic….despite my eclectic tastes in music, they just weren’t playing anything that made me wanna sing, with the exception of a rousing rendition of good ol’ Rocky Top. The audience participation just wasn’t as orchestrated (some might say forced) as Bob Jackson’s, and I never felt pulled into it. But perhaps my friends hit the nail on the head when more than one of them told me that Jellyroll’s is just more fun when you’re hammered.

Earlier that day, my friend Danielle had introduced me to the Animation Academy, which I’ll do again every visit, perhaps even every day! Located in The Magic of Disney Animation at the Studios, this 20-minute experience always looked like a bore, especially since I have no talent whatsoever at the drawing board. But in that 20 minutes, I was able to draw a recognizable Jimminy Cricket, suitable for framing! In this day and age of “interactive entertainment,” this low-tech experience is immensely engaging, and I’d recommend it to people of all ages, even if they’re not hammered.

I’d never stayed at one of the All Stars Resorts before, and I’d do it again…if I’m staying onsite, and if Pop is booked. Yup, that’s a lot of if’s, but I mean it. I often stay offsite to have more room for fewer dollars (especially given easy access to family timeshare weeks), and I do prefer Pop to the All Stars. But All Star Movies really wasn’t so bad, and my location in the Mighty Ducks building meant that I could choose the Movies or Music buses depending on which was to my advantage. Plus, the towel animals were fantastic, and the low rent meant I could sign that credit card slip with a clean conscience.

And on the higher-rent end of things….I will absolutely eat at Boma’s again! I’d thought about trying this restaurant before, at the Animal Kingdom Lodge, when my son and I had been staying at Saratoga Springs Resort on our Free Dining trip in August of 2007, but had balked because I hate taking Disney buses between resorts. Next time, I’ll just take a cab – it’s worth it for this fabulous dining experience! The roast pork was succulent, the fufu divinely spiced, the pineapple cheesecake worth the trip itself. My only complaint was that the zebra domes didn’t live up to the hype I’d heard in the Disney Digerati, being a rather well-ornamented chocolate mousse rather than the cure to all that ails you. But how could they have possibly lived up to that reputation? I shall dine again at Boma’s at the first opportunity, and will allow myself even a bit longer to linger in the lobby, maybe even grab me a pair of those night vision goggles I keep hearing about, for watching the wildlife outside the window.

I don’t know when I’ll get back to Walt Disney World…right now, the next Disney trip on my agenda is a few days next August at Disneyland Paris, in my estimation the prettiest of the Magic Kingdoms. As much as it would be great to be headed to Florida again soon, I’m also glad I’ll be giving it a little time, so that next time I visit I’ll be able not only to revisit these new favorites, but try out whatever new stuff they’ve cooked up in my absence!

Like this:

I’m sure there are a million web sites where you can follow the rumors about Miley Cyrus possibly getting fired by Disney. And I’m absolutely the wrong person to speculate on the potential veracity of said rumors! I can barely spell her name without checking the Google. But I can tell you that if you have a tad of the bitchy queen in you, you should read the commentary in The Superficial, which my friend Geoff Carter pointed to in his RSS shared items.

Oh and hey, while I’m thinking of Geoff, that reminds me that this week’s Those Darn Cats will feature Geoff’s reminiscences of the Adventurers’ Club, scheduled to close on September 28 (oh yeah, gotta finish up that show, now don’t I?). We also interviewed Geoff a couple months back, talking about Disney’s California Adventure (MP3).

Like this:

Just yesterday, I stumbled across a fabulous new blog: Finally, A Feminism 101 Blog, which features a feminism FAQ. Why is this so fabulous? Well, before this site, I wasn’t aware of any resource where I could send people for those Frequently Asked Questions about feminism, and any tech support folks out there (or computer geeks who end up doing tech support for their loved ones and random cocktail party strangers) know how useful it is to be able to point people to some basic information and assumptions, so that conversations and debate don’t have to be derailed by going back to review first principles. And also, how tiring it is to re-tread the same basic ground over and over again.

AKA: I asked some feminists a question, and instead of answering they sent me here. Why?

Your question probably covered ground they have gone over many times before, and they didn’t want to derail the interesting discussion they were already having. [1]

People find questions that do not further the current discussion frustrating. Questioners find being ignored at least as frustrating, and such mutual dissatisfaction can totally disrupt a discussion. By sending you here the feminists hope to avoid such disruption, yet are also not completely ignoring your question(s). [2]

Maybe you didn’t ask a question at all, but asserted/argued a point that denied the factuality/importance of the topic being discussed. Nobody cheers at the thought of trying to run another through reams of introductory material before that person gains the grounding to argue a topic knowledgeably.

Either way, educating you on the basics would derail the discussion about the actual topic the feminists are interested in, just for you. That’s an awful lot to ask of people on the net who don’t even know you, isn’t it?

This blog exists to give you a few pointers to places you can find more information to answer your question (although we’re only in early days yet, FAQs will continue to be added until the basics are covered). Once you are better informed you will be able to contribute to lively feminist discussions productively, armed with facts and theory, even if/when you don’t end up agreeing with feminist opinions.

A casual breakfast with my girlfriend Minnie, at the Watercress Café Character Breakfast

And hey, if any of y’all reading this have podcasts of your own, or interweb radio shows or any other such project (perhaps Disneyphile, perhaps not)? My BFF and partner-in-crime Lisa cooked up a short MP3 promo for us, grooving on a Laverne and Shirley vibe. You can hear it at the end of TDC#17 (MP3, show notes), and I’m happy to email you the promo as a separate MP3 file.